113A. Fitting job for Bette? : CASINO DEALER. Because Bette is close to Bet?

3D. Fitting job for Art? : MUSEUM GUIDE

70D. Fitting job for Miles? : TRUCK DRIVER. Or * PILOT.

Fun
theme! I like this type of theme where in the language phrases are
punnily re-interpreted. You need to be really imaginative and come up
with plenty of candidates for a workable set. Often constructors have
to discard a perfect entry due to wrong letter count.

Mark
took fully advantage of the low themeage (7 entries/85 squares) and
gave us another clean grid with six great 9-letter fill.

Across:

1. Places for reps : GYMS. Love an easy start.

5. Texter's "Mercy me!" : OMG

8. National park near Bar Harbor : ACADIA. Got via crosses.

14. Make the grade : RATE

18. Été month : AOUT. August. Not a good time to visit Paris. Some shops are closed.

19. By way of : VIA

20. Hard work : LABORS

21. Official order : EDICT

23. Bit of trickery : RUSE. And84. Bit of physics : ATOM

24. Some urban commuter lines : ELS

27. Would rather : PREFERS TO

30. Pipe piece : ELL

31. Anchor in a race : GO LAST

32. Strange craft : UFOs

33. 2001 Audrey Tautou title role : AMELIE. Lovely movie. She works at a cafe in Montmartre.

I agree that today's theme was a lot of fun. Well, for the most part. I'm not entirely sure what a HASH HOUSE is, but it doesn't sound like a place that would serve stew (or STU). I'm probably wrong, but that was the only theme answer that was hard for me to come up with.

Egress left me puzzled...it makes a bit more sense with C.C.'s photo. Otherwise, easy going and a clever theme.

Morning, C.C., Hasselblad cameras were held in very high regard. The Apollo astronauts used them; the famous Earth-rise photo was shot with a one. Years ago, I read that an astronaut's Hasselblad somehow became un-hooked from his suit and drifted just out of his reach during a spacewalk. There was no way to retrieve it, so it had to be abandoned to orbit the Earth all alone - Sweden's first satellite!

Amélie is a wonderful art film. Audrey Tatou was just right for the role.

Gonna chime in early today, as this was one of the more "fun" puzzles I've created. I never tire of the old standard "Good name for a cook" = STU that has appeared in so many puzzles over the years, so decided to turn it around and find a few more "Fitting Jobs" for people.

Thanks for the great write-up CC! Of course Bette is as in Bette (bet) Midler, not Bette (bet-ee) Davis . . .

Yep, "hash house" is a real thing, generally defined in dictionaries as a cheap restaurant or diner. If I were to use HASH as a standalone entry, it might clue it as "Stew's cousin". It was one of our favorite dishes in my family, leftover roast beef and potatoes, always served over scratch-made biscuits.

I confidently inked in ESTATE LAWYER where PROBATE JUDGE needed to be. As you might guess, it slowed things down considerably, and Wite-Out was required. Hand up for BUS and TAT, C.C. I've heard of "train fare" and "exact change," but EXACT FARE seems awkward. That and X AXES were my final fills. Thanks, Mark, and thanks for stopping by with your insights into today's puzzle.

I had not seen that Esau Wood tongue-twister before, but I think THIS is the rhyme that Mark was cluing.

Learning moment: There's something called the CREASE in hockey. That ices my puck!

Learning moment 2: There are two Ds in GODDESSES.

I baked an acorn squash as part of last night's dinner. Maybe it was under-ripe (how do you tell?), but at any rate, it was absolutely inedible. Put it out back, and even the coons wouldn't touch it.

Musings-A straightforward march to the sea, er, completion-Ya gotta like your chances when he’s your ANCHOR-A very famous HASSELBLAD-We have five NESTS around here at last count-Yesterday’s discussion on earthquakes was ESOTERIC and very informative-Time Magazine once had the USEFUL Idiot as “Person Of The Year”-Both candidates have SNIPERS ready to attack anything they say. You NEEDN’T DREAD this will end before November -Some teachers hate it when subs ADD to their crappy lesson-I took an 14-year-old OMAHA tribal princess on one of my Florida trips. She acted like one!-I visit the bookstore whenever Joann shops but never buy-ON THE NOSE was a signal on this early TV classic-Husker fans enjoyed the 33 point win last night but are A TAD upset with many things that went wrong-Thanks for the visit and the puzzle, Mark. Bette was my first thought by I had to abandon her image to get the fill.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fun and fresh offering. All of the theme clues and answers brought a smile. What really brought a smile was finding out that the "egress" was an exit not a female "ogress". That Barnum was a trickster, wasn't he? I knew "Amelie" but had Amalie until perps corrected me. Acadia was a gimme and I'm sure Lucina caught it also, after her recent visit to Bar Harnor. I love the word " esoteric" and "hash house" usage is quite common here. All in all, a pleasant start to the day.

Thanks, Mark, for an enjoyable solve and for dropping by and thanks, CC, for the overview.

Yesterday, my neighbor returned from at week at the Cape and brought me the makings of a lobster roll which was greatly appreciated and devoured post haste! Today, I'm going to a family gathering at my nephew's where I'll enjoy steamers, chowder (Manhattan, of course), mini-chili dogs, from-scratch baked beans, potato salad, eye of the round on the grill, all sorts of pasta dishes, and, last but by far not least, corn on the cob! 🌽🌽🌽.

I think I better do more research before I choose my Netflix movies. I watched "Grandma" with Lily Tomlin last night, thinking I was in for a comedic treat. Suffice it to say the funny parts were almost non-existent and that I smiled more doing today's puzzle than I did during (enduring is more accurate) this mess of a movie. End of rant.

How exciting to have ACADIA Park in today's puzzle. Just last Sunday my sisters and I visited there for two days. It was glorious! Such a beautiful place. I hadn't realized it is situated on an island, Mt. Desert Island, and occupies most of it. It's still a mystery to me why desert is in the name. It's lushness belies the name.

Thank you, Mark McClain. I loved this puzzle and the puns with names!

Most of it was straight forward but JUDGE forced me to mull long and hard until REJOICE appeared then it all fell in place. One blank cell because XAXES made no sense to me. Live and learn. Also I just noticed that LAYER/BYE is missing the Y. I blame it on the faint print of my newspaper. It's so small and light that it's really hard to read. That's my story and you know the rest.

Fortunately we've seen AOUT a few times though it took a long time to EGRESS from my brain. GARP coaxed it out.

Thank you, C.C., for explaining LESSOR and other fill with your detailed commentary.

I had Egress thru perps, but doubted it mightily since I too thought the attraction might be an Ogress. Glad to know that story line, and may actually remember it. The rest was largely slow and steady, but did finish with Amelia in lieu of Amelie. A personal natick that I really didn't give enough thought.

Hope everyone impacted by Hermine is safe, sound and dry.....and that you stay that way. This storm looks like the gift that keeps on giving. Yech!

The football game yesterday was hardly a nail biter, but the "missing man formation" for the first punt to honor Sam Foltz was very touching. And the response of the Fresno State team was very classy as well.

Wow! I was on Mark's wavelength today. Fastest Sunday in a while. The main holdup was confidently calling the chair EADES instead of EAMES and holding to it. OSMONDS was all perps and finally convinced me to change the D to M.Yes, Bette MIDLER is pronounced BET, but BETTE DAVIS is pronounced BETTY. I am a huge Bette Davis fan and have watched her old movies over and over. Hahtoolah, thanks for the EGRESS note. What a trickster was Barnum.I loved visiting ACADIA Park. Sunrise on Cadilac mountain was worth getting up early for. Wiki explains the name , Mt. Desert Island. Mt. desert Island DO I thought of the same ESAU rhyme as you did.

Excellent puzzle! I liked it a lot. Terrific theme entries. Thank you, Mark. And thank you for your explanations, C.C. I learned what a CREASE is. I also learned about the ESAU poem; Margery Daw wouldn't fit.

Delightful Sunday puzzle, Mark, and thanks for checking in! And helpful expo, C.C., especially with impenetrable items like that EGRESS. I actually did pretty well on this, in spite of not knowing a number of items--had some of the same questions as Hahtoolah.

This Sunday puzzle was made very easy by Mark because the them clues were easily guessable after one or two perps, which allowed to be rapidly filled.

PASO DOBLE, EGRESS, ESAU, AMELIE, FONT- the only unknowns today. Never knew that there was a 'seesaw song' and don't really worry about the font; I only change it occasionally or just change to Italics or Bold if I want something to stand out.

SNIPER- C.C.. we have too many anonymous SNIPERs on this blog. If you are not willing to acknowledge what you commented on, keep it to yourself, IMHO.

X-AXES- great clue- I just think of the x & y axes as a graph. Wasn't thinking.ACADIA- We have an ACADIA Parish in Louisiana and SW LA is referred to as ACADIANAAOUT- The shops are closed because the 'Frawnch' think that they should take a month off because of their strenous 35-hr work weeks. Man, I'm tired.DOCENT- only knew of it as a volunteer guide, not a professor. Live and learn.'Hasselblad'- no 'clue' as to what that was-SLR all perpsBarry- HASH HOUSE is a diner.Hahtoolah- body art is neither; it's lack of brains while on heavy drugs. Seeing more and more of it every day.

IVAN is the Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Croatian equivalent of "John," but not universally the "Slavic" equivalent. The Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Slovak and Slovene equivalent is JAN (some with accent marks and extensions); the Serbian, DZON.

"Ticker tapes" might have been a nice clue if EKG'S had not been misspelled.

SAGAS not tales not YARNS not EDDAS.

You don't have to be a TRIAL ATTORNEY to "Sue" someone. You can be a senior partner or the research lawyer or the draftsman and then send the TRIAL ATTORNEY in to follow up (if necessary, and it usually is not – the vast majority of lawsuits are settled) before trial).

There are a Heritage Cremation Provider in Burnham, Illinois, and a Burnam & Son crematory in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Hi Y'all! Mark, I thought your theme entries were fun and the puzzle satisfying at finish. Thanks for another great expo, C.C.

The NE corner was the last to fill. I was thinking regatta for anchor and couldn't come up with GO LAST. Duh! How many relay races did we watch in the Olympics? When I finally did fill it, parsed GOLAST as one word and didn't "get" it. Duh! Ticker tapes also mislead me. Then it dawned, oh heart! Duh! Of course, the Barnum attraction EGRESS didn't make sense. (Thanks for the explanation there.) "O come, o come, Emanuel and ransom captured Israel". Ransom is the first verb in that song so I was stuck on that. What's that "J" doing in the middle? I REJOICEd when the right word finally perped in and I remembered that part of the song. Duh! A four-duh day. Do duh, do duh! Doesn't happen often.

Ravel classic = BOLERO. I could hear the music in my head, but needed perps BO to remember the rest. BO Derek, ya' know?

Learning moment: "not for the masses" = ESOTERIC. I must be one of the masses. Never knew the word's meaning.

Wasn't fooled by GYMS or DOG. Knew ACADIA. Never heard of Audrey or her movie. ESP

Heard today that my niece and nephew in upper gulf coast Florida were okay after the hurricane. What a month for natural phenomena worry! Like Elvis, I'm all shook up.

trudged through the puzzle without ever relating the "names" to the jobs. Admit I had to look up Amelie...not a fan. But what took me a long time to correct was using HBO instead of PBS after the immediate fill of BOSS. HBO now owns Sesame street and I was sure this was a trick. Verticals eventually forced me to concede that "TIDAL HOOLS" was not a good fill.

Probably my last Sunday for a while...FOOTBALL is starting and I have "RED ZONE". No commercials !!

That video is a real hoot! I think it ties in nicely with PT Barnum and his bag of tricks. This guy, Paul Begley, is a real life chicken little trying to ball caps, tshirts and survival kits. He is straight off talk radio show like Coast To Coast talking to all the tinfoil hats out there. Does he even have a degree in anything other than snake charming?

It may be "Jesse Waltman" narrating that video. Try to find anything about him on his website or anywhere else for that matter. I think he is a figment of Paul's imagination. I've been laughing so hard I can barely read my horoscope in todays paper.

I have dug a lot of clams in my life, but I'm sure wondering whether Mr. McClain or Mr. Norris ever have. It's sometimes cold, but almost always worth it.

All my digging has been on exposed beaches at low tide, as in C.C.'s photo illustration. TIDALPOOLs, on the other hand, are very inhospitable habitats for either clams or diggers, being usually rocky-bottomed, and always filled with water.

Enjoyed the theme, though, and agree with C.C. that Amalie was a delightful movie. Love winter squash, and now I'm on the lookout for Kobocha!

For fun, I listen to the "Crazy People" program at night when I can't sleep. When Art Bell did C2C, it was the best. He woke this Sheeple. I've opened my eye [like the one on the back of your currency!] and can see we are just slaves of the Annunaki* who want Earth's gold!----

Big Easy I forgot to mention ACADIA as 3/4 of my family is from ACADIA Parish. Crowley, Lyons Point. All the LeBouefs, Primeauxs. Then the LuQuettes and LaCours from the Abbeville area and south to the Gulf of Mexico.

Later on I will find a good you tube vid with the great Cajun French Language spoken in it. We are of Acadia, Nova Scotia and all areas in that northern area.

Acadians as we are called also have another name called Cajuns. A kind of word like Indians and Injuns. Acadians and Cajuns. We are proud of it too.

There is another name also that I am proud of, but it might offend proper Cajuns on here. If you want me to say it I will ~!~!

I am proud of my heritage and will never forget it.. When the Acadians were exiled from Canada on ships we were sold as slaves and dispersed in the Islands of the Carribean sea and the east coast of the USA, then finally making it to Louisiana and making something from swamps and marshlands into one of the most visited states in the country makes me feel great.

Bpearth is Jesse Waltman I have been following him on the Invest/Hermine and he was spot on. He was on it since day ?? He did say it was coming to our area and then changed it to the northeast track before the others did on the weather channel.

I moved from the Midwest to Shreveport when I was 15. I saw Justin WIlson on PBS and visited Baton Rouge later and fell in love w/ S. Louisiana. New Orliens is one thing (and I enjoy it). But go west and, my experience, is finding the funniest, kindest, and greatest-food-makin' -- just fun, no pretense, and don't give the damnedest bunch of people outside of my Italian family I've met.

A good buddy is a Theriot (know them?); after a beer or two I can't understand a thing he's saying - 1/2 of it is French-ish.

Then there's my buddy at the office - she's a self-described Coonass and a hoot 'ta boot. -T

Boo-lu @ 11:11 pm - Well said! I totally enjoyed working with a "Cajun" legal secretary from Port Arthur TX at a Houston law firm - I never knew what to expect from Becky - extremely competent and a hard worker, but (whoa) what a firecracker! She always referred to herself as a "Co0n A$$ - that was Becky! We became good friends. And amen to the food and music! Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez! Hello, Anon-T?

I do hope our East Coasters will be safe during the next few days and not experience any proprty damage. Positive thoughts coming your way from TX

Anon-T @ 11:58 - Second amen to your post!! But just to be sure, is it after your or Mr. Theriot's second beer that you can't understand what he's saying? :0 All in all, the Cajuns know how to live life!